Five major day-night variation patterns that must be mastered for scientific duck rearing

1. Day-night variation pattern of duck feeding.

    Under natural light, a duck flock has 3 feeding peaks within a day and night, respectively in the morning, at noon and in the evening. Accordingly, the following should be done in feeding management:

(1) Strengthen morning feeding. The flock's appetite is especially strong at dawn; feeding them to fullness and feeding them well at this time can make laying ducks lay more eggs and meat ducks gain fat and weight quickly.

(2) Graze at fixed times. Grazing should be carried out at the ducks' 3 feeding peaks in the morning, at noon and in the evening, and at other times the flock should be allowed to rest or be driven into the water, combining work and rest. If drinking water, medication or medicated feed is needed, it is best arranged at the ducks' feeding peaks.

2. Day-night variation pattern of duck egg laying

    According to reports, laying ducks mainly lay eggs in the period after midnight and before dawn, and usually do not lay eggs during the day. To increase the laying rate, the following should be done:

(1) Turn off the lights on time at 10 p.m. and stop lighting, so as to ensure that the laying ducks lay eggs in a quiet environment from 1-4 a.m. the next day.

(2) If it is found that the ducks generally lay eggs later than 5 a.m. and the eggs are rather small, it indicates that the concentrate feed in their daily ration is insufficient, and the concentrate feed should be increased in time according to the standard.

(3) If the ducks lay eggs during the day, it is mostly caused by a single feed type, insufficient nutrition, too early morning grazing, or harsh conditions such as high temperature and high humidity in the duck house. The feeding management conditions should be improved accordingly, and the ducks' daily morning grazing time should be temporarily postponed (to 8 a.m.).

3. Day-night variation pattern of duck mating

    According to reports, breeding ducks generally choose morning or evening to mate, on a broad water surface. Therefore, full use should be made of the breeding ducks' mating peak in the morning or evening to drive them to deeper water, so as to increase the fertilization rate of breeding ducks.

4. Day-night variation pattern of You-hour disease

    You-hour disease is named because ducks come down with it at the You hour every afternoon (17-19 o'clock). When the disease strikes, the ducks become violently restless and quickly huddle together, causing some weak ducks to be trampled to death, with a mortality rate often reaching about 20%. This disease is caused by transport stress, so various stresses before and after long-distance transport of ducks should be minimized as much as possible. Within several days after transport, anti-stress drugs should be added to the daily ration 1-2 hours before the You hour each day, so as to promptly stop the occurrence of You-hour disease.

5. Day-night variation pattern of immune response

    According to reports, the strength of poultry's sensitivity to immune preparations (vaccines, bacterial vaccines, etc.) shows a day-night periodic variation: sensitivity is poor during the day and the immune response is sluggish; at night, near dawn, adrenaline secretion is greatest and the immune response is most sensitive. Therefore, immunization of poultry (including ducks, geese and chickens) is effective when carried out at dawn. There are two benefits:

(1) Poultry stop activity at night, are easy to catch, and have little stress response.

(2) Inoculating poultry at dawn each day, when their immune response occurs, can make them develop immunity faster and better.